Aeroplane attachment



P. s." woous, AEROPLANE AITACHMENT. APPLI'CA'HON FILED FEB- 27. 1920.

1,41 5,754. Patented May 9, 1921 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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P. S. WOODS.

AEROPLANE ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED FEB-27,1920.

1,415,754, Patented May 9,1922.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Snucmfof UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PHINEAS S. WOODS, 0F SMITHVILLE, MISSOURI.

anaormnn ATTacnmENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 9,1922.

Application filed February 27, 1920. Serial No. 361,753.

To all it may concern:

accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of referencemarked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to aeronautics and particularly to means forcontrolling the landing movement of an aeroplane. v

Heavier than air machines are generally landed while traveling atconsiderable speed, or at least at a speed sufiicient to sustain themachine in theair as it moves toward the landing stage. The result isthat the machine comes in contact with the ground violently enough tonot infrequently cause damage to the machine, the speed at which themachine travels at the final landing movement being such thatconsiderable space is required to elfect the landing. My inventioncontemplates the provision of means whereby the forward speed of theaeroplane may be retarded and the mechanism is also adapted t0.b8constructed so a that the retarded action will be effective in providinadditional sustaining resistance to the a1r so that the machine maysettle down upon the landing stage at a relatively low speed and withpractically no violence.

In the drawings,

Fig. I is a view partly in elevation and partly in section of anaeroplane constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. II is an elevational view of the mast and an edge view of theretarding and sustaining wheel, the mounting for the wheel being shownin section. v

Fig. III is a horizontal, sectional view through one of the bearings forthe centrifugally operated retarder wing support.

Fig. IV is a cross sectional view through the bearin or mounting for thesupport on the line I -IV of Fig. II'I.

a full, clear, and exact description of the Fig. V is a longitudinalsectional view through the hub on the upper end of the mast, and

Fig. VI is a fragmentary view of one of the fabric supporting stays.

Referring now to the. drawings by numerals of reference:

1 designates an aeroplane of approved construction provided with anengine or motor 2 whereby the usual tractor propeller 3 may be driven.

Mountedabove the floor of the fuselage 4 of the aeroplane is aconcavo-convex base plate 5, supported upon the standards 6- in any wellknown manner, and said plate is provided with a plurality of openings orperforations 7, any one of which may be engaged by the bolt 8, slidablein the slot 9 of the mast 10. The bolt is provided with a collar 11against which one end of a spring 12 bears, the other end of the springhearing against the end of the mast and said bolt may be withdrawn fromany one of the openings 7 through the medium of the handle or boltretraotor 13. The mast is shown as being provided with a ball-shapedcollar 14 intermediate its ends, which may engage a socket 15 supportedat the top of the fuselage whereby the mastmay be swung about the pivotformed by the members-14.- and 15.

It will be further apparent that the mast extends above the rigid plane16 of usual construction and supported upon the fuselage in the -usualway. 1

At least for a portion of its upper end,

the mast 10 is preferably hollow. as at 17,

to receive the flexible shaft 18, driven from the motor and extendinginto the hub 19 and secured thereto at 19, whereby the hub wil. rotateabout" the anti-friction bearings 20, as clearly shown in Fig. V. Thehub may be of any approved construction and may carry a skeleton wheelconsisting of the intersecting spokes 21 and 22 fast to the hub areretarding and sustaining blades which normally lie in substantially theplane of wheel .but which are adapted, when the wheel rotates, to assumepositions at angles thereto, as will be presently explained.

The retarding and sustaining blades, may be of any number suitableffiorthe purpose but I contemplate the provision of four, arranged at anglesof about 90, and the spokes port hearings on the blocks 28 in which arelongitudinally mounted retarding and sustaining blade supports 29,extending into the recesses of the blocks 28. The members 29 areprovided with collars 31, between which and the inner ends of therecesses 30are springs '32, normally tending to hold the retarders andblades in retracted positions.- When, however, the wheel is rotated, thecentrifugal force will be suflicient to overcome the retractive tendencyof the springs 32 and'cause the blades 33 on the ends of the members 29to move out with I them, as shown in Fig. III.

- der all conditions.

The devices 29 are provided with oppositely disposed .lu'gs orprojections 34, ex-

tending transversely from the member 29 and riding in spiral slots 35and 36. The spiral slots are so disposed that when the blades are intheir retractedpositions, they will be substantially in the plane of thewheel, but when they are moved by centrifugal force, the riding movementof the pr0 ect10ns 34 1n the spiral slots will cause the shaft orsupport29 to rotate at an angle of about 45 in the direction of themovement of the plane, thereby presenting the upwardly inclined faces 37to retard the forward movement of the plane and at the same time act asa sustaining force or element to allow 'the plane; to settle downwithout any perceptible jar. The rotation of the wheel'will have theeffect of a gyroscopic action and it is desirable to maintain the wheelin a horizontal plane un- Therefore, I have providedmeans for swingingthe mast out of the perpendicular with respect to the fuselage of theaeroplane but to maintain it in a true perpendicular line irrespectiveof the position of the aeroplane body and to this end I have provided amanually operated adjusting means consisting of the sprockets 38 and 39,suitably mounted within the fuselage, the sprocket 39 being driven by agear 40 to which movement may be communicated by a worm 41 driven by thecrank 42.

The mast is provided'with collars 43 and 44 to which sprocket chains aresecured. The'chains are designated 45 and 46 and pass around thesprocket 38and 39 respectively. The sprocket 38 is an idler but it isadapted to' equalize the pressure on one side of the shaft. The sprocket39, however,

the

21 and 22 atthese points may supis an active sprocket, being driventhrough the medium of the crank 40 and worm 41. Therefore, when thecrank 42 is turned, the mast may be tilted on its pivot connectionformed by the members 14 and-'15, it being understood, of course, thatduring the tilt-' ing movement, the bolt 8. will be withdrawn fromengagement with one of the holes 7.

So long as the machine is operating normally, that is, during the flyingoperation, the wheel will be stationary and may serve as an additionalplane, but whenever it is desired to descend, the flexible shaft 18 willbe rendered eifective by clutching the same in with the motor, whereuponthe wheel will begin to rotate and as it does, the centrifugal forcewill cause the retarding or sustaining wings or vanes 33 to engageradially of the wheel, turning at a slight angle, as indicated, andserving as a retarding and sustaining force.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is:

1. In a device of the class described, a mast, a rotatable membercarried by said mast, and retarding and sustaining members carried bythe rotatable member normally in a plane parallel with the plane of:the'rotatable member, said sustaining members having radial and rotativemovement into operative position due to centrifugal force generated bythe rotatable member.

2. In a device of the class described, a stationary mast, a rotatablewheel on said mast, normally in operative spring retracted retarding andsustaining vanes carried by the wheel, said retarding and sustaining.vanes being movable radially and rotatably into operative positionunder centrifugal force generated by the rotatable motion of the wheel.

3. In a device of the class described, a stationary mast, a rotatablewheel on said mast, bearing members carried by the wheel,

spiral guideways in said bearing members,

longitudinally'movable vane supports in the bearing members, lugs on thesupports, engaging the spiral guideways, and vanes carried on the endsof the supports.

4. In a device of the class described, a stationary mast, a rotatablewheel on said mast, bearing members carried by the wheel, spiralguideways in said bearing members, longitudinally movable vane supportsin the bearing members, lugs on the supports, engaging the spiralguideways, vanes carried on the ends of the supports, and springs fornormally retracting the supports. 1

5. In a device of the class described, a pivoted mast, a wheel on themast,- bearing members on the wheel having spiral grooves, alongitudinally movable shaft mounted in the bearing members and havinmeans for engaging the spiralgrooves, an I vanes car- CJI IlQll on theends of the longitudinally movable shaft.

6. In (-ombination with an aeroplane having supporting wings and apropeller at right angles to said wings, of a rotatable wheel mountedabove said Wings and at right angles to thepropeller and having

